Hannah's First Halloween

There is great pressure on how you should dress your child for their very first Halloween. Chris and I thought long and hard about how we should dress Hannah and I think we succeeded in coming up with a costume that tops all for a babies first Halloween. We also might have raised the bar so high that every other Halloween costume will be a complete let down. But we’ve got a year to plan!

So we decided along with our best friends, David and Laura, to dress our kids respectively as “Deb” and “Napoleon Dynamite” at their prom as pictured here:

And I think we pulled it off as you can see here:

"Napoleon" is sporting an authentic vintage suit from the 70s, passed down through generations of Ethridges. And "Deb" is sporting an altered Cinderella dress purchased for the sheer fact that it was covered in tulle and had sleeves that were "really big". “Deb” also temporarily wore a blue mum wrist corsage given to her by her date before she discovered how much more fun it was to eat than wear. The wagon donned pink streamers for that gaudy old school prom touch with a sign proudly promoting their dear friend “Pedro” for class president.

The kids had a blast at the Fall Festival this year, and we were pretty proud that their costumes were such a hit! Just check out all of their admirers.

Hannah's Third Week in the DOC Band

The Mom, The Babe & The Tree

I was unloading Hannah from the car this evening when I noticed her eyes fixated on something behind me: it was a newly planted baby tree that was blowing in the fall wind. I unbuckled her from her seat and walked over to the tree where she actually started laughing every time a gust of cool wind would hit her in the face, all the while she was grabbing at the swaying thin branches. It actually made me think of a poem I stumbled across today:

Trees
by Alfred Joyce Kilmer

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

I love to watch the delight on my child's face as she enjoys something for the first time. Sometimes I'm just too busy to notice and enjoy the simple things in life. But I find when I do slow down just for a bit, I find the worries of my day fade in comparison to how blessed I truly am.

God is so good to me. His faithfulness humbles me. And His greatness is displayed in even the simplest of things.

Decorating Hannah's DOC Band

We’re in the process of getting Hannah’s band decorated. There’s a business in town called East Texas Engraving and Wrapz, Inc., and they are going to apply a customized sticker to the outside of the band with a fun design. We wanted it done locally and inquired if they were even willing to do such a small job. And not only were they willing, they were so generous to do it for free. We didn’t expect that in the least, and we are so grateful! Now Hannah can get her “crooked little head” fixed and look cool in the process! Here’s what the design will look like:

Hannah Gets A New Hat

A month after her initial consultation and the week she turned 6 months, Hannah received her custom band. And just one week after wearing it, we have seen change already! It took her no time at all to adjust to wearing it. It’s as if she’s pretty unaware that she has something on her head. Here’s a video of her trying it on for the first time.

I do have to say that while I know it’s important to undergo this treatment, I’m ready for her to be out of it. She has to wear the band 23 hours a day, only taking it off long enough for bath time. First of all, it’s hard to snuggle to your sweet baby’s head when it’s wrapped in a hard shell. In fact, I have this new found fear of her busting me in the face and knocking out a tooth! And secondly, the band isn’t the most attractive piece of headwear I’ve ever seen. In fact, it’s plain white. So it has this sterile, cold look to it. We’ve actually had a few stares from folks because they don’t know what to make of it. I have to be honest, though. I always wondered what they were, too.

Hopefully she won’t have to wear it for very long, though. Because infants are constantly growing, we expect rapid change in the shape of her head. Our clinician told us she should only have to wear the band as long as she still fits in it and her head is as round as it can be.

Hannah's Crooked Little Head

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, placing a child to sleep on their backs decreases their risk of SIDS. So of course when Hannah was born, we’d do exactly that. However, we knew that this sleeping position would also increase the chances of her head developing a flat spot, so we’d do our best to turn her often. But little Hannah always favored sleeping on her left cheek. And we found that her head began to flatten on the back left side of her head.

At each of her wellness check-ups, our pediatrician would instruct us to have Hannah spend more time on her tummy, not only to strengthen her upper body, but to help her head round out as she grew. Despite our efforts and all of the tummy time, it didn’t help. Her head just wouldn’t round out and she continued to favor sleeping on her left cheek. Honestly, we didn’t think much of it, believing it was something she would eventually grow out of.

At Hannah’s 4-month check-up, our pediatrician pointed out to us the effects of this flat spot -- it was causing slight asymmetry in her face. Being the adoring parent that we are, I can’t say that we had ever looked at her head objectively, looking for anything out of the ordinary. So when our doctor pointed this out to us, we were quite surprised and honestly a little skeptical. But when she told us that continued growth creates the possibility for the asymmetry to become even more apparent, we just imagined Hannah as a young woman, completely self-aware of any flaw and realizing it was something that had the potential to be corrected at some point. And we were convinced to explore what else we might be able to do to correct what I affectionately call her “crooked little head”.

Upon our pediatrician’s referral, we took Hannah to Cranial Technologies in Dallas. There they did an evaluation of her head, taking pictures and measurements and asking questions. She was quite a trooper and smiled and talked to all of the staff, who was very nice. In our consultation, the clinicians concluded that Hannah preferred sleeping on her left cheek because she had torticollis -- stiffness of the neck muscles -- and her neck muscles had yet to be stretched out properly since birth. And as a result of this stiffness, she developed a condition called plagiocephaly, which is a common, treatable condition often caused by external forces applied to an infant’s soft skull. We learned that it ranges from mild to severe, causing effects such as skull deformation, facial asymmetry, misalignment of the ears and bulging of the forehead. Possible long term effects could affect more than just her appearance, but it could cause jaw and vision problems or make it difficult to fit her for a bike helmet or glasses. Hannah’s condition appeared to be mild to moderate.

So Cranial Technologies prescribed in-home physical therapy for us to stretch her neck daily. And within a day, we noticed increased mobility as it made it easier to flip back and forth from her backside to her tummy. Also, they determined that Hannah was a great candidate for orthotic treatment in which a device customized to her head would be placed on her head called the DOC Band.

The DOC band is a 6-ounce device consisting of an outer plastic shell with foam lining that looks quite similar to a helmet. It works by applying mild holding pressures to the prominent areas and encouraging growth in the flattened areas.

Because treatment can take a few months, Chris and I were uneasy about putting her in a helmet for that long. After talking it over and checking with our insurance company, though, we decided to move forward with treatment for Hannah. We knew that she would probably be fine without it, but if we were able to provide her with this option, we should do it.

So we scheduled a follow-up appointment to have her head measured for the band. Cranial Technologies uses a machine called Digital Surface Imaging® that takes a complete 3-D image of an infant’s head. Hannah did so well at this appointment. Before her head could be scanned, they put a mesh stocking on her head that covers her face. This enhances their capability to get a smooth 3-D image. We weren’t quite sure how she would take to the stocking. In fact, we had just heard a child scream bloody murder during his scan just because of the stocking. Yet, Hannah seemed to think it was the funniest thing ever. The scan was fast, and she charmed the pants off of all of the clinicians.

We're All Getting Old

Happy birthday to my 32-year-old baby daddy! While we didn’t celebrate too big on his actual birthday, we plan to do so as we rock out at the U2 concert next week! Every year we celebrate our October birthdays by going to a fall concert, and this year we’re going to the concert of all concerts. U2. Happy birthday to us!

We’re celebrating another milestone this week as Hannah turns 6 months! It's going by so fast!!! I truly feel like I just found out I was pregnant, and here she is, halfway to 1! And for those of you who have not seen her lately, she's quite the giant baby... obviously she didn't get that from me! She measures 20.5 pounds and 27.75 inches. Just to give you an idea of how big she is, she's the same size as a few 1-year-olds we know. But you better believe every ounce is filled with extraordinary personality and utter sweetness. We're so thankful to have a happy, healthy child. :)

Next week I celebrate turning 28. While it doesn’t sound as ancient as 32, it still sounds old. Where does the time go?

Tickle Fight

Grandpa's winning the tickle fight. But he's got it coming to him when she outgrows him. That'll be next year.